Ron Hill presented with Quilt of Valor

A decade ago I met Ron Hill who was a writing student in my class at EAGLE, an adult education program at a church in Sautee Nacoochee, GA. I enjoyed Ron’s stories about his interesting life. I learned that he was from my region of North Carolina and served as  Director of the John C. Campbell Folk School many years ago. We have kept in touch by email all these years. Today I received the following.

Ron Hill, former Director of John C. Campbell Folk School

Presentation of Quilt of Valor to US Army War Veteran Ron Hill

A Quilt of Valor was presented to retired Captain/Sergeant Major Ron Hill of Sautee Nacoochee, GA on October 11, 2018.

The presentation was made by Karen Trombley and Terry Wright, Georgia Quilts of Valor volunteer members. In addition to the presentation, Trombley and Wright told the audience of the Northeast Georgia Veterans Society about the mission of the Quilts of Valor organization which is "to cover service members and veterans touched by war with comforting and healing Quilts of Valor."  

They continued by relating the meaning behind the three layers that are used to construct a quilt. "The top of the quilt with its many colors, shapes, and fabrics, represents the communities and the many individuals we are. The batting, the filler, is the center of the quilt, its warmth. It represents our hope that this quilt will bring warmth, comfort, peace, and healing to the individual who receives it. The backing is the strength that supports the other layers. It represents the strength of the recipient, the support of his or her family, our communities, and our nation. Each stitch that holds the layers together represents love, gratitude, and sometimes the tears of the maker."  The presentation concluded with a short biography of Ron’s service in the United States Army, which included his service in the Korean War 1953-54, Vietnam War 1969-70 and Desert Storm 1991.

Karen and Terry displayed the quilt during the presentation and then awarded the quilt to Ron. As the quilt was draped over his shoulders, Ron’s smile made all of our efforts worthwhile. We could tell that he was very pleased with the award and understood its meaning. Every stitch in this quilt was made with thanks to Ron for his service to our country.

Friday, Oct 12 Writers' Night Features Loren Leith

Please join us for the entertaining prose of award-winning local writer, Loren Leith. She is our featured reader along with Atlanta poet Danielle Hanson. As always, open mic follows -- sign up at the door. Union County Community Center map here.

Do You Know about Marsha White Warren? What does she mean to NCWN-West?

We are kept up to date on the literary world by North Carolina Writers' Network. Did you know about the NC Literary Hall of Fame? New inductees this year will include Marsha White Warren who was Executive Director of NCWN in 1987 – 1996. She is responsible for our program, NCWN-West.

This is from Nancy Simpson’s history of NCWN-West:

“When NCWN-West Began

During 1990, NCWN Executive Director Marsha Warren mailed a survey to NCWN members living here in the mountains. At the same time, then NC Arts Council Literature Director in Raleigh, Debbie McGill, also mailed a different survey to writers. Both organizations seemed to want to know about the mountain writers. They asked questions about what we needed. Included was a place for comments. The results of both surveys moved these leaders to reach out and help writers in the mountains.

In 1991, I applied for and received an Artist Fellowship in Poetry at NCAC. Soon after I got a call from NCAC Literary Director Debbie McGill congratulating me and asking me to come have dinner with her in Sylva (a two and a half hour drive for me at the time.) I immediately said, “Yes.”

A few days later, I received a formal letter on NCAC stationery signed by Kathryn Stripling Byer. That letter was sent to all writers in the area, asking us to come to a meeting on the same evening that I was invited to have dinner with Debbie Mc Gill. I rode over the mountains with Bettie Sellers of Young Harris, Georgia (she would become Poet Laureate of Georgia) who had also received a letter.

At dinner before the meeting, Debbie McGill asked me to help form a writing group in the mountains west of Asheville. I said I would. That evening in Jackson County, Rita Rudd, a writer who lived there, volunteered to get organized in Jackson County. I took a copy of the membership list of NCWN and NCAC members living in Clay County (Hayesville), in Cherokee County (Murphy), and in Macon County (Franklin). I set up a meeting for NCWN members in those three counties. We met in Murphy. …

I will always be grateful to Marsha Warren, who worked with dedication to get NCWN West organized. She is the one who named the counties and areas to be served as NCWN West: Cherokee County, Clay County, Graham County, Haywood County, Jackson County, Macon County, Swain County, Transylvania County, and adjacent counties in Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina. During my service as Program Coordinator, I was asked to include Qualla Boundary.”  Read more here.

New Inductees to Be Honored October 7

SOUTHERN PINES—On Sunday, October 7, at 2:00 pm at the Weymouth Center for the Arts & Humanities in Southern Pines, the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame will welcome five new inductees.

James W. Clark, Jr., Randall Kenan, Jill McCorkle, Penelope Niven, and Marsha White Warren will join the sixty inductees currently enshrined.

Marsha Warren 

Marsha White Warren was an elementary school teacher, poet, and children’s book author when she became Executive Director of the North Carolina Writers’ Network in 1987, only two years after its founding. She would serve in that role until 1996. During those years she helped Sam Ragan develop and open the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame, as well as serving on numerous state and national literary boards and as a consultant to literary centers in Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Idaho. In 1991, she also became director of the Paul Green Foundation and is still with the Foundation after twenty-seven years. In that position, she has overseen $575,000 in grants to nonprofits that support the arts and human rights. Her awards include the John Tyler Caldwell Award for the Humanities, R. Hunt Parker Memorial Award for Lifetime Contributions to Literature, Sam Ragan Award for Contributions to the Fine Arts, and an Honorary Doctor of Letters from St. Andrews College. She lives in Chapel Hill.

Like Nancy Simpson, I am grateful to Marsha White Warren for creating NCWN-West. I moved to NC in 1995, just as our program was taking off and building community for writers here in the mountains. 
Thanks to Nancy, Kay Byer and to Marsha Warren, we are a thriving organization, the western arm of NCWN, but many, many writers and poets don’t know how we began. Now you do. 

Congratulations to Marsha Warren, 2018 NC Hall of Fame Inductee.

NCWN-West mourns the passing of a fellow writer and member, Donald "Newt" Newton Smith, Jr.

We at NCWN-West are saddened at the loss of our fellow member, poet, and treasurer, Newt Smith. He passed away on September 26, 2018.

Donald Newton Smith, was Emeritus Professor of English at Western Carolina University, and was the current Treasurer of NetWest and Chair of the Board of the Liars Bench. He taught many of the courses in the Professional Writing program at WCU as well as American Literature and Modern Poetry courses. Smith designed the Appalachian Literature course and helped create the Appalachian Studies minor at WCU. 

He was President of the Appalachian Writers Association for four years and had published both poetry and academic articles throughout his career. Smith was a founding poetry editor of Lillabulero magazine and press, the president of the Appalachian Writers Association, and was a Staff Writer for the Asheville Poetry Review.

 Please find the link to Newt's Obituary here:

https://www.meaningfulfunerals.net/obituary/donald-smith-jr?fh_id=11748

News from Mary Ricketson: Call for exhibitors for ARTrageous Event November 9, 2018, at The Learning Center, Murphy, NC, where Former NC Poet Laureate Shelby Stephenson will perform; plus Stephenson will perform Sunday, 10/7/2018 at Malaprops, Ashville.

News from Mary Ricketson, Cherokee County Rep for NCWN-West

Would the NCWN-West community like to set up a book table of local writers for Friday, November 9th at ARTrageous, The Learning Center in Murphy's event, for exposure for NCWN-West to the community, possible sales, and talking to young writers? Contact Mary at: maryricketson311@hotmail.com. ARTrageous (see poster below) has a call for exhibitors, see: Calling all artists, at: http://www.naturallygrownkids.org/artrageous

Also, Shelby Stephenson , former NC Poet Laureate will be reading at Malaprops, Asheville, NC, at 3:00 PM, on Sunday, October 7, 2018. Stephenson will also be performing his poetry and songs on Friday, November 9, 2018, at 6:00 PM, at the ARTrageous event, at The Learning Center, 945 Conahetta St, Murphy, NC 28906.

Authors Robert and A. C. Brooks' Booksigning to be held at The Curiosity Shop Bookstore, Murphy, NC, Friday October 5, 2018

Author Robert Brooks of Brevard NC is a featured guest at The Curiosity Shop bookstore in Murphy on Friday, October 5, 2018. The book-signing event from five to eight p.m. for his mystery novel The Clown Forest Murders is part of the regular Friday night Art Walk celebrated each month in Murphy, NC.

Bob, along with first author and son A.C. Brooks, wrote The Clown Forest Murders released last November by Black Opal Books. The tale is set in a small town with surrounding forests and fields where strange mushrooms can arise and change behavior. Those who marvel at the alluring fungi in western NC forests will see them in a new and mysterious light. The novel tells Dave’s story: he witnessed his brother’s murder, but amnesia protects him, his memories return, and he must investigate. Dave’s return to his home town sparks problems with his psychiatrist, local cops, and the killer. Written in memory of a son and brother, the novel is dedicated to those who endure mental illness. Elements of an attractive but flawed hero, a heroine who holds a secret, and a hidden killer make the book a great read. The author will be available at The Curiosity Shop to discuss his books, reveal secrets of their creation, and sign copies.

R.R. Brooks, a retired pharmaceutical researcher, lives in Brevard with his wife, a beagle, and two cats. He writes fiction and nonfiction, including published science fiction and fantasy stories. The epic fantasy novel Justi the Gifted was published by Leo Publishing in January 2015. He is a member of several writers groups and the N.C. Writers’ Network and maintains author’s pages on Facebook and Amazon

We can't avoid new technology. We need to embrace it to stay current.

I don't know how often you read the blog on the NCWN site, but I find it most interesting, especially the past two posts.

https://www.ncwriters.org/whitecross/

We are all dealing with new technology now even if we don't want to learn new things. The recent posts are:

New Literary Podcasts for NC

and Technology can help you write better 

I have become a big fan of podcasts lately. I love to learn and I listen to  podcasts that teach me. New Literary Podcasts for NC was created by author Landis Wade, a member of the NC Writers' Network in Charlotte, NC and will have guests on his show that appeal to writers.

Landis will have an exhibitor table for the podcast at the NCWN 2018 Fall Conference in Charlotte.

Both articles give a hint to some of what we will see at the Conference in Charlotte. Have you heard about Freedom?  

This company is a sponsor for the Fall Conference, and I think I want to learn more. How many times are we distracted by social media or something on the Internet when we are trying to write? We can just click on Freedom and none of those notifications will pop up and stop our thought processes. 

Our members don't always take advantage of what is offered by our parent organization. Click on www.ncwriters.org and check out the White Cross Blog to keep up with the literary world in North Carolina and more. Charles Fiore and Ed Southern do a great job with it.

Georgia Poetry Society Contests

Poetry submissions will be accepted now through November 15.

Cash Prizes!

Several Awards including

The Herbert Reece International Award 

For information and submissions guidelines, go to the website and click on contests.

While you're there, consider becoming a member. For some of the contests, members' submission fees are waived.

Georgia Poetry Society is a member of the 

National Federation of State Poetry Societies

http://www.georgiapoetrysociety.org/contests

FALL NEWSLETTER FOR NCWN-WEST

NCWN-WEST IS A PROGRAM OF THE NC WRITERS' NETWORK.

Our members are active and flourishing. We like to get the word out about their writing successes, their coming events and future plans.

Please share this post with others on your email list and you will be helping get the word out as well. If you are a member of NCWN, and you live in one of the nine counties of North Carolina or bordering counties in Georgia that make up NCWN-West, you are also a member of NCWN-West. You get the benefits of both organizations.  

NETWORK WEST ANNOUNCEMENTS:

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We have four new county representatives for NC Writers' Network West. They have excellent ideas for writing events in the coming months. They are enthusiastic about their plans and I believe our members will be excited as well.

We are happy to welcome Natalie Grant as county rep for Cherokee County. She will work with Mary Ricketson, county rep.
Ben Cutler is now representative for Swain County.
Charlie Wilkinson and Megan Lucas are new reps for Henderson County.
Find contact information for the County Reps online at https://netwestwriters.blogspot.com/

We welcome them and hope you will all support them as they work to build community for writers in their areas.

Poet, Maren Mitchell from Towns County, Georgia will be facilitating a new poetry critique group:

 “ROOM FOR POETRY”, A POETRY CRITIQUE GROUP

WHERE: Mountain Regional Public Library, 698 Miller St., Young Harris, GA (706) 379-3732. The Meeting Room to the left in the foyer.

WHEN: First meeting: October 23, 2018, Tuesday. Next 2 meetings: November 20, 2018, December 18, 2018, on Tuesdays. Check with desk in December for schedule into 2019.

TIME: 2:00 – 4:00 pm

MAIN PURPOSE: To provide poets constructive verbal and written feedback from other poets. No fees or membership dues are required to attend this group. The program is sponsored by NC Writers’ Network – West, a program of NCWN, and is open to the public.

ADDITIONAL PURPOSES: To share knowledge and information about poets; submitting: snail mail, email and Submittable; journals; presses; readings; workshops; conferences.

You will be receiving more information about this group, requirements and guidelines, by email.

Karen Holmes, Georgia Representative sent this announcement:

Writers' Night Out in Blairsville, Georgia continues with the these featured readers, followed by open mic:

October 12: Loren Leith and Danielle Hanson

November 9: Glenda Beall and Estelle Rice

The event is free and takes place at the Union County Community Center at 7 pm. For more info, contact Karen Paul Holmes at kpaulholmes@gmail.com

The life and works of Georgia poet, Anya Silver (1968-2018), will be celebrated at Callanwolde Fine Arts Center in Atlanta on October 11 at 7:30 pm. Ilya Kaminsky, David Bottoms, and Karen Paul Holmes are among those who will read Anya's work. For more information, contact Karen Paul Holmes at kpaulholmes@gmail.com or visit https://callanwolde.freshtix.com/events/poetry-reading-7/showings/8a549c3f-f29e-45c6-aaaa-dcf520dfb0a4

NCWN - West sponsored a poetry reading at Murphy's Curiosity Shop Bookstore featuring Shelby Stephenson, NC Poet Laureate and Mary Ricketson, NCWN-West Representative followed by an open mic and discussion. Mr. Stephenson also spoke at an event sponsored by The Learning Center Charter School in Murphy.

Member News:

Megan Lucas of Henderson County said, "I have a couple of new short stories that I'd love to share with the newsletter readers." - My story "Southern Comfort" was published in the Fall 2018 Issue of Attic Door Press. Here's the link: https://issuu.com/atticdoorpress/docs/issue_03_fall_2018

- My story "Stains" is forthcoming in Barren Lit Mag's Issue 2 that's coming out on Thursday. Here the link to them: https://barrenmagazine.com/

Gary Carden will be at City Lights Books  in Sylva, NC on Friday, October 5th at 6:30 p.m.
"Gary Neil Carden has lived with an ear to the ground and this play is the voice that he heard. Birdell is a testament to the gone and the going away, a lonesome whippoorwill song remembered by those who were here, never heard by those who have come."   Celebrate Gary's new DVD.

Charles Fiore sent this note: "Just a quick note to let you know we mentioned your recent feature in our Hats Off! section today and shared it through social media:   https://ncwriters.org/index.php/our-members/hats-off "

Katie Winkler (Henderson County) has recently edited and published the third edition of Teach. Write.: A Writing Teachers' Literary Journal. In this edition read short fiction, poetry, and essays by writers from North Carolina and Virginia to California and South Korea. Teach. Write is open for submissions now through March 1 for the Spring/Summer 2019 edition.  See the journal and submission guidelines at Winkler's blog: Hey Mrs. Winkler: Musings and Mutterings about Higher Education in the South. heymrswinkler.com


Cherokee County Rep, Mary Ricketson's poems, The Plea and The Appeal, have recently been published in Voices, the literary journal of Kentucky River Community Care! in Hazard, KY.  
Another poem, Young in the Mississippi Sun, was published in Fun in the Surf, the latest anthology published by Old Mountain Press.

Nancy Purcell, former representative for NCWN-West in Transylvania County facilitates a writing group there. “My writers group has been together for going on 11 years. We always have a healthy exchange on writing issues: character's need building and how do you do that, how to do readings at a book store with the support of the group, how can we assist someone with their work, their bios, etc. I believe this has been the real corner-stone of our groups longevity.”

Caroll Taylor, new member of Lost Playwrights, sent this:Lost Playwrights met  Saturday, September 22nd, in Kaplan Auditorium of Henderson County Library. Attendees were asked to bring their latest masterpiece.  (Carroll would like to start a play writing group in the Cherokee, Clay, and north Georgia area. If you are interested or know someone who is interested, please let Caroll know.)

Old Mountain Press’ latest anthology Fun in the Surf: A Poetry and Prose Anthology with the theme of anything about rivers, oceans, lakes, water activities, coastal people, the coast, etc. or summer in general was published 1 September 2018 and contains the works of over 50 writers from across the US.     See http://www.oldmp.com/anthology/funinthesurf.htm

One of our most active and most published members has news:

The new craft book, The Practicing Poet, edited by Diane Lockward of Terrapin Books, is now available. It includes a poem by Karen Paul Holmes.

The editor of Lascaux Review selected two poems from Karen's book, No Such Thing as Distance, to feature in the journal.

Karen's book has also been favorably reviewed in publications like the Washington Independent Review of Books, where Grace Cavalieri says, "It’s rare to find a poet who can make you feel you’ve known her your whole life because she embodies the wit of your best friend, the sadness of your other best friend, and the sweetness of your oldest friend. And she might have been the smartest girl in the senior class because she’s gifted with language. ..."

Karen had poems recently published in Emrys Journal, and in Anesthesia (Journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists), which also named her as a finalist for their Letheon Prize.

Earlier this year, Karen had poems in Valparaiso Review and Drunk Monkeys. She was a featured reader at the Georgia Poetry Society and read at the Decatur Book Festival (metro Atlanta).

THE BIND published "Navigating the Personal in Poetry: Glenda Council Beall in Conversation with Karen Paul Holmes."
https://www.thebind.net/blog/holmes-interview


Glenda Council Beall and Estelle Darrow Rice have published a collection of stories, essays, poems and photographs about family pets and other animals. Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers and Fins, Family Pets and God's Other Creatures became available on September 20.

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November. 2-4,   Registration is now open for NC Writers' Network Fall Conference at Hilton Charlotte University:  https://ncwiters.org/

Conference includes Master Classes in Fiction, Creative Non Fiction and Poetry, plus workshops on craft and technology, panel discussions, Manuscript Mart and Critique Services, and plenty of opportunity to meet writers from around the state and beyond.  

Keynote Address by 2017 Literary Hall of Fame Inductee Randall Kenan
For more information and to register:  https://ncwriters.org

Are you a member of NCWN?  If not, join now and get 30% off the cost of the conference!  Other benefits include: 

• Exclusive access to contests, jobs, residencies, and other publication and submission opportunities
• The Network's Critiquing and Editing Service (available only to Network members; additional fee)
• Coverage in Book Buzz and Hats Off!, two special website sections highlighting members' achievements and publications
• Access to NCWN's audio/visual resources including readings, tutorials, presentations, and more
• A subscription to the Network's publication, The Writers' Network News, and access to the WNN archives
• Courtesy web links for members' blogs and author websites
• Weekly member e-updates
• Opportunities to market your books at festivals
• Exclusive access to our agent and editor listing
• Discounts on advertising on the website and in NCWN's weekly e-blasts, newsletters, and more

The nonprofit North Carolina Writers’ Network is the state’s oldest and largest literary arts services organization devoted to all writers, in all genres, at all stages of development. For additional information, visit www.ncwriters.org.

JCCFS's The Literary Hour to feature poets and writers Glenda Council Beall, Karen Paul Holmes, and Estelle Darrow Rice, on Thursday, September 20, 2018, in the Keith House, Brasstown, NC

On Thursday, September 20, 2018, at 7:00 PM, John C. Campbell Folk School and NC Writers' Network-West will sponsor The Literary Hour. At this event, NCWN-West members will read at the Keith House on the JCCFS campus, in Brasstown, NC. The Literary Hour is held on the third Thursday of the month unless otherwise indicated. This reading is free of charge and open to the public. This month's featured readers will be Glenda Council Beall, Karen Paul Holmes and Estelle Darrow Rice. 

Glenda Council Beall has been writing and publishing poetry, short stories and personal essays since 1995. In 1998, she published a family history book, Profiles and Pedigrees, Descendants of Thomas Charles Council (1858 – 1911). In 2009, her poetry chapbook, Now Might as Well be Then, was published by Finishing Line Press. 

Beall is owner/director of Writers Circle around the Table, a writing studio in Hayesville, NC. She opened the studio in 2010 after her husband passed away. She teaches there and brings in top rated instructors to hold classes at reasonable rates for local writers. Beall also teaches at the Institute of Continuing Learning at Young Harris College and at Tri-County Community College in the Community Enrichment department.

Animal lover Beall, along with writer Estelle Rice, produced their first book together. Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers and Fins. Filled with color pictures of family pets and family members, these stories will entertain, and bring a smile or a tear.

Karen Paul Holmes splits her time between Atlanta and the Blue Ridge Mountains. With an MA in music history from the University of Michigan, she eventually made her way to the warm south and became Vice President-Marketing Communications at ING, a global financial services company.

Karen now leads a kinder gentler life as a freelance writer and poet. She finds joy participating in poetry readings and supporting poetry.

A member of the North Carolina Writers' Network, the Atlanta Writers Club, and the Georgia Poetry Society, she has studied with poets: Thomas Lux, Denise Duhamel, Dorianne Laux, Joseph Millar, William Wright, Carol Ann Duffy, and Nancy Simpson (whom she counts as her first poetry mentor).

Karen Paul Holmes has two full-length poetry collections, No Such Thing as Distance (Terrapin Books, 2018) and Untying the Knot (Aldrich Press, 2014). In 2012, Karen received an Elizabeth George Foundation emerging writer grant for poetry. She was chosen as a Best Emerging Poet in 2016 by Stay Thirsty Media. Publications include Prairie Schooner, Valparaiso Review, Tar River Poetry, Poet Lore and other journals and anthologies. Holmes hosts a critique group in Atlanta and Writers’ Night Out in Blairsville, which she founded. She also teaches writing classes at the Folk School, Writer’s Circle, and other venues.

 

Estelle Darrow Rice is a poet and writer of short stories and personal essays.  She holds a BA degree in Psychology from Queens University, Charlotte, NC and a MA degree in counseling from the University of South Alabama, Mobile AL. Her work has been published in numerous journals and anthologies.  She published a popular book of spiritual poems, Quiet Times.

She is originally from Charlotte, NC, but she and her late husband, Nevin Rice, lived in Mississippi before retiring to Cherokee County. She has resided in Marble, NC for the past twenty years. Before her husband became ill, Rice taught writing classes for NCWN-West and at Writers Circle around the Table. She was always a favorite instructor.

Estelle is an animal lover and with co-writer Glenda Council Beall, wrote and published a collection of poems and stories about family pets and other non-human species, Paws, Claws, Hooves, Feathers and Fins.